Medical Bits 5-2 Travel Medicine and Vector-Borne Diseases
Travel Medicine
International and domestic travel has become routine. It is estimated that in 2019, before the first Pandemic (but not the last) of the 21st century, a record 1.5 billion humans trotted the globe and counted as “international tourist arrivals”. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) was founded in 1946, based in Madrid, and not only tracks the movement of travelers, but promotes sustainable tourism development and a global code of ethics to protect travelers. According to their dashboards, humanity is well on its way to surpass the pre-pandemic travel records later this year! “Travel”, may have derived from the old French word travail, meaning “work” and was probably first used in the 14th century, although it may come from the Middle English, travelen (torment, labor, strive) or earlier still from the older French travailler (work strenuously, toil). No wonder it can feel “exhausting”…